State Superintendent of Education Tom Burnham said one of the reasons for that is all of the submitted proposals were too high. He says the proposals were two or three times higher than what the department wanted to spend for a district of less than 3,000 students.

According to information The Clarion-Ledger obtained through an open records request, three companies submitted proposals for privatizing the five-school Tate County district.

Department officials in December published requests for proposals to privatize the district, which is under conservatorship. The request stemmed from Burnham's plan to improve the outcomes of districts taken over by the state. State-appointed conservators oversee six Mississippi school districts.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Tuesday that a proposed agreement between world powers and Iran was "a bad deal" that would not stop Tehran from getting nuclear weapons -- but would rather pave its way to getting lots of them and lea...